Illinois Attorney General Sues Chicago Over Police Practices

CHICAGO — The Illinois attorney general filed a lawsuit against Chicago on Tuesday, seeking a court-enforced consent decree to overhaul officer training and remedy discriminatory practices that were outlined early this year in a scathing federal critique.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel had said in January, with only days remaining in Barack Obama’s presidency, that he would work toward such a consent decree. But no deal materialized after President Trump took office, leading Lisa Madigan, the state attorney general, to press the case in federal court.

“In the absence of a committed Justice Department, my office will seek the reforms and support police officers need to implement safe and constitutional police practices,” said Ms. Madigan, a Democrat, who spoke of a “broken trust” between black and Hispanic Chicagoans and their police force.

The lawsuit, which seeks a consent decree overseen by a judge, represents a state-level response to federal reluctance to accuse police departments of systemic wrongdoing.

During Mr. Obama’s tenure, the Justice Department negotiated consent decrees in Cleveland; Ferguson, Mo.; and other cities where investigators found a pattern of police abuses. But Attorney General Jeff Sessions has spoken skeptically about such agreements and called for greater reverence and support for the police. Negotiations for federal monitoring in Chicago broke down months ago, Mr. Emanuel said.

Mr. Emanuel stood beside Ms. Madigan on Tuesday as she announced the lawsuit that accused his police department of being “plagued” for decades by “unconstitutional conduct.”

“We are going to pursue reform with our officers, not to them and not at them,” Mr. Emanuel said, adding that “we all recognize abuses of the past, and we all share the goal of preventing them in the future.”

But the move toward a consent decree was condemned by the union representing Chicago’s rank-and-file police officers. Kevin Graham, the union president, called it “a potential catastrophe for Chicago.”

“Already facing an explosion of crime because the police have been so handcuffed from doing their job by the intense anti-police movement in the city, this consent decree will only handcuff the police even further,” Mr. Graham said in a statement.

But Christy Lopez, a former Justice Department official who helped lead the investigation of the Chicago police, said Ms. Madigan’s move was heartening, potentially even a model for other places at a time when federal scrutiny has lessened.

“It’s a clarion call to other states,” said Ms. Lopez, who is now a Georgetown Law professor.

With details of the consent decree yet to be negotiated, it was unclear how the Trump administration would proceed. Mr. Sessions has singled out Chicago in recent weeks for its high murder rate — more than 450 people have killed here this year — and “sanctuary” policy for undocumented immigrants.

“If the city and state can put in place policies and practices to ensure constitutional, proactive policing that actually serves to reduce Chicago’s rampant violent crime problems, that would be a positive step,” said Ian D. Prior, a Justice Department spokesman, in a statement. “However, we have said repeatedly that we will not agree to or support any measure that will endanger the lives of Chicago’s residents or law enforcement by eroding the rule of law or by failing to properly address violent crime in Chicago.”

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A19 of the New York edition with the headline: Illinois Sues Over Conduct Of the Police In Chicago. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe